USG: Goals instead of gavels

Have you ever heard of a "government" that doesn't govern? One that holds elections but does not pass legal policies? Sure you have: the USG.

The USG doesn't actually do much with the "G" in its name, despite having a constitution, a senate, an executive branch and regular elections. What's most conspicuously missing from the USG is a set of policies or procedures for legislating, and, according to its members, that's okay with them.

"We serve more as a liaison between the students and the administration on a wide range of campus issues," Class of 2009 senator Tracy Vu explained.

You might be asking yourself: If the USG can't pass rules or make its own policies, then what does it do? Well, the answer is: A lot. Aside from representing students in conversations with administrators about University policies like grade deflation and alcohol restrictions, the USG also takes up a variety of projects to improve student life. These projects range from suggestions to the administration about academics or facilities (for instance, Pass/D/Fail reform and extended library hours), to creating student services (Point, USG DVD), to organizing special events (study breaks, comedian performances).

The USG has its own budget for funding individual events, but most longterm projects require not only cooperation among USG members, but also administrative approval. Failure in either area can halt the project at any stage of its development.

Any undergraduate can approach a USG member with an idea for a project to be discussed within the group at large. Members of any of the three branches of the USG —the Executive Committee, the Senate and the U-Council — can take on the project.

"We bring ideas as a body," USG president Rob Biederman '08 said, "and the Executive Committee dictates a path for the semester."

There is no set process for bringing USG projects to fruition. Senators don't necessarily vote to approve projects, and individual members of the USG do not have duties that are carved in stone. Rather, senators adopt "pet projects" and work together with members of all branches of the USG — plus administrators — to bring them to life.

"There really isn't a mold [for executing projects]," U-Council chair Sarah Langberg '09 said. "Each project is special and unique and is kind of born in its own way. There's no need for a formal process."

Instead of holding votes, USG members use their weekly Senate meeting to brief each other on the progress of their projects and to informally discuss their goals.

This past week, for instance, Biederman told the Senate about his recent meeting with Dining Services administrators concerning the idea of a cafe in Dillon Gym. A committee assigned to redesigning Point, the student web portal, also presented findings from student focus groups about the website.

To understand how USG projects come to life, it may be helpful to consider two examples: USG DVD, which has been doing very well, and Princeton in the Nation's Sevice (PINS), a less successful initiative which the USG recently dropped.

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USG DVD was born when Biederman, Langberg and USG vice president and president-elect Josh Weinstein '09 teamed up to find a way to provide cheap DVD rentals to Princeton students. "At first, we had to do a lot of background research in terms of the legality of [the project]," Langberg said. USG DVD rents used DVDs to students for free, while individual class governments pay to fund the project.

"We worked with the general counsel of the University, and they were really helpful in putting a report together about the legality of it," she added, noting that University administrators were supportive of the project and helpful in guiding its execution. "The administration is generally good about saying, 'here's what you need to do.' "

The next steps dealt with setting up the project's website, usgdvd.com, soliciting student requests for DVDs and advertising the service to the student body. Weinstein was one of the leaders in the advertising push, Langberg noted, not because such work is part of the vice president's job description, but because "Josh is funny and could make a YouTube video."

Langberg added that the same "fluidity" in delegating duties applies to the USG's operation in general. "We look at the human capital within the USG [to assign specific tasks]," she said. USG DVD was relatively easy for the USG to put in place, and the service has proven successful and popular among students.

PINS, on the other hand, was met with more challenges in its development, and the USG ultimately decided last spring to abandon the project. The community service initiative was originally proposed in 2005 by then-USG president Leslie-Bernard Joseph '06. Sarah Breslow '08, who is currently USG academics chair and worked on PINS in 2006 as campus and community affairs (CCA) chair, said that Joseph originally intended for classes to be suspended one day each semester to give students the chance to take part in various community service projects. When the administration rejected the idea, he and then-CCA chair Carol Wang '07 decided to create a month of service instead.

During October 2005, PINS sponsored fundraising events to benefit Hurricane Katrina victims, a Water Watch cleanup event and a walk-a-thon. None of these events, however, were met with the enthusiasm for which the USG had hoped.

"It was not really compelling," Breslow said. "Other groups on campus were doing the same thing." The next year, Breslow and her CCA committee revised the initiative and sponsored a day of service for all campus groups. The updated project met with similar problems, stemming from the fact that student service groups, such as SVC and Community House, already had well-established ongoing projects.

Last spring, CCA chair Cindy Hong '09 decided to do away with PINS altogether. Breslow attributed the initiative's failure to the fact that the Pace Center already served the purpose of uniting students in service. "We realized PINS wasn't a niche for the USG," Breslow said.

The story of PINS speaks to the difficulties of establishing successful projects at a University comprising so many different interest groups. "The USG takes on a lot of projects that don't necessarily come to fruition," said Matt Field '08, U-Council co-representative to the Executive Committee. Field noted that academic reforms, for instance, take the approval of the University president, its trustees, the provost's office and other administrative and academic departments.

Field added that even successful projects often take a great deal of work to complete. "Some projects can be executed in the span of two weeks," he said, "but changes outside the scope of the current administration can take years."

Breslow noted that much of the difficulty in accomplishing USG projects comes from disparities in viewpoints between the students and the University administration. "A lot of students think everything needs to happen in the four years that they are here, but administrators look further ahead," she said.

Biederman added that the administration also often deals with more considerations on individual issues than students do. For instance, Biederman pushed to have a prox swipe installed at the U2, but the University has been so busy with the changes to the U-Store that "they've just never followed through on it," he said.

Field noted that being subordinate to the University administration can make the process of pursuing USG projects frustrating at times. Still, he said, "Even if there are frustrations, it's important for the USG to stick with it to foster a sense of involvement and pride in the school."